French films of the 1930s
La Bandera (1935) 
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Having killed a man in Paris, Pierre Gilieth flees to Barcelona where he enlists in the Spanish Legion. Here he meets up with fellow countrymen Mulot and Lucas, and falls in love with a Moroccan girl, Aischa. Unbeknown to Pierre, Lucas is a detective who intends to betray him to the authorities......
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La Kermesse héroïque (1935) 
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1616. In the small Flemish village of Boom, the burgomaster is preparing a banquet for his daughter’s wedding to the local butcher. She, however, is in love with the painter Jean Breughel. A messenger suddenly announce the arrival of a Spanish army unit, led by the Duke of Olivarès, passing through on their way to Holland...
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Merlusse (1935) 
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At a boarding school in Marseilles, a teacher, Merlusse, finds himself the constant target of practical jokes from his unruly pupils. Undeterred, Merlusse perseveres with his out-dated teaching methods, but still the boys tease him, making fun of his unusual appearance. Despite his outward severity, Merlusse reveals his true nature when he gives each of his boarders who cannot go home for...
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Toni (1935)
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Toni, a young Italian arrives in France and finds work as a quarry labourer. He finds lodgings with a young woman, Marie, who falls in love with him. Toni, however, loves another woman, Josepha, but he rejects her when she is raped by Albert, his foreman. To avoid a scandal, Toni marries Marie, and Albert marries Josepha...
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Tovaritch (1935)
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Russia, 1917. Not long after the state wedding of General Ouratieff to Tsar Nicolas II’s niece Tatiana, the country is caught up in a bloody revolution. With the Tsar and his family facing execution at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Ouratieff and his wife flee the country. Fifteen years later, they are living a meagre existence in a cheap one room apartment in Paris...
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César (1936)
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Several years have passed since the marriage of Fanny and Panisse. After the death of Panisse, Fanny tells her son, Césariot, that his real father is Marius, who left Marseilles twenty years ago to travel the world and who is now living alone in a nearby town. The café-owner César sets about trying to reunite Fanny...
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Club de femmes (1936)
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In a women only boarding house in Paris, impressionable young women are offered cheap accommodation and sanctuary from corrupting male influences. Unfortunately, this is not the quite the haven of happiness it should be. One young woman is infatuated with her neighbour, whilst another girl goes to extraordinary lengths to smuggle her boyfriend into her room...
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Drôle de drame (1936)
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England, the early 1900s. Irvin Molyneux is a quiet botanist who secretly writes gory detective thrillers under the pseudonym Felix Chapel. His books are vehemently condemned by Irvin’s cousin, Archibald Soper, the Bishop of Bedford. Soper invites himself to dinner at the Molyneux’s home one evening, but Irvin’s wife is mysteriously absent...
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Jenny (1936)
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When her fiancé breaks off their engagement, Danielle leaves London and returns to her mother, Jenny, in Paris. With her business partner Benoît, Jenny runs what appears to be a respectable nightclub – it is in fact a place where wealthy men can buy the favours of attractive young women. Oblivious to her mother’s professional and personal life...
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La Belle équipe (1936)
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Five impoverished unemployed labourers win 100,000 francs on the national lottery. They agree to use the money to convert a run down chateau into an open-air riverside café, which they will run as a co-operative enterprise. However, this idealistic venture soon begins to turn sour, as a combination of bad luck and pettry rivalries begin to break up this happy group of friends......
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La Vie est à nous (1936)
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As a reaction to the rising tide of fascism that is sweeping across Europe in the 1930s, the French communist party call upon workers to support their cause and unite to ensure a better future for themselves, their families and their country. The benevolence of the PCF is illustrated through heart-warming tales of working class folk...
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Le Roman d'un tricheur (1936)
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The story of the cheat begins and ends with personal misfortune. When he was a young boy, our hero was caught stealing money from the family shop. As a punishment, he was not allowed to join his family on their picnic. They ate mushrooms and died of food poisoning, he survived and was placed in the care of his unscrupulous aunt and uncle...
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Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)
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Monsieur Batala is an inveterate womaniser who runs a publishing house, and is heavily in debt. In a last desperate attempt to stave off his creditors he prints Wild West short stories by one of his employee’s, Monsieur Lange. Realising the game is up, Batala goes on the run. The train he takes to escape crashes, but he survives...
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Les Bas-fonds (1936)
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One evening, a baron gambles away the last of his fortune at the card table. Returning home, he is surprised by a young burglar, Pepel, whom he befriends. When the baron loses his house to his creditors, he moves into the home for the poor where Pepel is staying. The home is run by Kostilev, a receiver of stolen goods. Pepel has been having an affair with his landlord’s wife...
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Mayerling (1936)
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In the late 1880s, Archduke Rudolph is the crown prince of Austria, a reactionary young man who prefers the company of ordinary folk to that of the nobility. In an attempt to curb his son’s rebellious spirit, the Emperor Frantz Joseph forces him into an arranged marriage and has him constantly tailed by his spies...
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Partie de campagne (1936)
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Monsieur Dufour, his wife Juliette and their daughter Henriette leave their shop in Paris and set out for a day in the country. On the banks of the Marne, Monsieur Dufour and his employee Anatole go fishing whilst the two women flirt with two boatmen, Rodolphe and Henri....
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Forfaiture (1937)
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Whilst her husband, the engineer Pierre Moret, is engaged on construction projects, Denise occupies herself with charity work in the Chinese town that has become her home. Tempted into a gambling den, she soon loses a fortune. She has no recourse but to accept a gift of money from the wealthy Prince Hu-Long, who has fallen in love with her...
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François Premier (1937)
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Honorin is the timid stage manager of the Théâtre Cascaroni, which is currently rehearsing a production of “François 1er ou les amours de la Belle Ferronnière ”. Honorin’s dream of playing the title role comes true when the current lead actor falls ill. However, Honorin is afflicted with a terrible stage fright...
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Gribouille (1937)
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One day, Camille Morestan, owner of a bicycle shop, finds himself juryman in the trial of a young woman, Nathalie, who is accused of murdering her lover. Moved by Nathalie’s story, Camille manages to convince his fellow jurymen of her innocence and she is acquitted. With nowhere to go, Nathalie accepts Camille’s kind offer of a room in his house and a job in his shop...
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Ignace (1937)
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As a punishment for returning late to barracks, a new army recruit Ignace Boitaclou is assigned as batman to the Colonel Durosier. His duties include keeping the Colonel’s expansive mansion and serving his formidable wife. Ignace is surprised at what he sees: infidelity, deceit, conspiracy. Yet he must adhere to the servant’s golden rule: to see and hear everything...
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